substance on bottles

[hunter2000]

Any one know what the flakey substance that appears on some of the bottles I find is.
Once the bottle drys it looks like gas in water rainbowish, If you rub it it floats in the air like its weightless. It kind makes me nervous.
Seam it alot always wondered what it was.
Thanks for any info or opinions.

 

[JOETHECROW]

Dennis,...I usually like it's appearance on bottles....Some folks do, and some don't...Here's some info I pasted from google. I don't think it's anything harmful or to be nervous about...


The internal and external surfaces of a glass bottle that has been buried (probably a majority of collectible bottles) will usually react variably to the natural chemical processes of decomposition in both water and the earth. This process of weathering is called “patination†in the archaeological world (Jones & Sullivan 1989). The results of this decomposition is a crust or other glass surface alteration with is also referred to as a “patina,†“sick glass,†or simply “stained†glass.
The term sick glass is descriptive in that the glass is sick, i.e., it is very slowly dissolving (Munsey 1970). This effect is also called – particularly by collectors – as “opalized,†“iridescence,†or “opalescence†(Tooley 1953; Kendrick 1963). There seems to be no one term that is widely accepted....

 

[hunter2000]

Thanks Joe I dont know where i ever heard the term SICK but thats what i have always called it. Great info
Thanks again.
Dennis

 

[RedGinger]

Yes, it's a chemical reaction of the glass and dirt, as Joe said. Sometimes when we dig, the flaky, shiny stuff is everywhere. It is sickness when it's on a bottle, as you said.

 

[XRdsRev]

The opalization adhering to the bottle is harmless but once it seperates into flakes or dust and is inhaled into the lungs it can be harmful over a long period of time. Simple Chronic Silicosis is definately not something you ever want to get. It comes from prolonged exposure to silica dust. Now it is unlikely that you will get that condition from your bottle collection but accidentally breathing in those fine flakes of opalized glass (silica) can (read "can" not "will") result in scarring of the lung tissue, especially if you breathe that stuff in repeatedly. Opalization can be desirable on antique bottles. Peeling flakes of opalized glass dust are not pretty and not healthy for either you or the bottle.

 

[brokenshovel]

We call it "snow"
Here's Digger George getting covered in it.

Guess I'll expect a lawsuit now.

 

[blobbottlebob]

It kind makes me nervous.

Hey Hunter,
This made me chuckle. There is nothing to fear but fear itself. []

 

[AntiqueMeds]

Here's Digger George getting covered in it.

Guess I'll expect a lawsuit now.

yep you should have just pulled up the rope and filled in the hole, now he's just dead man walking, a slow painful way to go[]


I think the correct term is devitrification.

 

[RedGinger]

Another good reason to wear a mask at all times, when digging. I replied to this before I read Gunth's good explanation in another thread. It sure is an exciting sign to see when digging, though!

 

[cyberdigger]

Hydrated silica is definitely the "snow" but I've long wondered if it was deposited from the environment or extracted from the glass of the bottle itself.. far as breathing it in goes, try not to.. it's similar to spackling dust which I've been around way too much in my career as a painter and now I avoid it like the plague!